An hour ago, I decided that I wanted to rip the Pemi Loop. It's a 32ish mile hike of brutal ups and downs, with technical hiking over 11 peaks- 9 of them official 4000 foot peaks. Most hike the Pemi in a long weekend of 3 nights- camping at Liberty Springs, Garfield Ridge, and Guyot Shelter before hiking out of the woods and going home.
I had been giving thought to doing it in one day for a long time. The opportunity hadn't really presented itself, with my often hectic schedule, so when I learned that I wouldn't be going to Maine for Father's Day, I figured that sunday would be prime...until I realized I would be spending it with the future in-laws instead. As in impulsive person, I had really set my mind to doing the loop that weekend, so I figured I would just go do it anyway...at night.
I arrived at Lincoln Woods, and finished throwing my food for the night in my pack: a bag of Raisinets, an entire tin of cashews, a bottle of Gatorade, a Redbull in case things got ugly, and a 32 oz Nalgene. I planned to only refill water once, at Garfield Ridge, where the water is awesome without a filter.
Shoes on, short shorts on, pack on, and GO! It was 7:15. Some dude looked at me from his car, and said,"You're starting late aren't ya? Where are you going?" I told him I was going all the way around. He looked at me with what was either disbelief or disapproval. Either way, I didn't care. I was amped to get on the trail and get to the suffering.
Deciding that I wanted to walk Franconia Ridge as the sun was rising, I opted to go counter-clockwise, hitting the Bonds first. On the long, boring, and flat Wilderness Trail, I came upon several people walking out of the woods. Once on Bondcliff Trail, I saw no one until I neared the top of Mt. Bond. He was a cool guy and we chatted for a while; he was working on his "4000 foot list in the dark". I didn't know that was even a thing.
As I came to the top of Bond, it was pushing 10 o clock and very dark. A small crescent moon provided me with little light. I was startled when my headlight shone on a body laying on the ground. Someone thought it would be a good idea to just bivvy up on the side of the trail, above tree-line. The wind was really whipping. I wondered why in the hell he'd want to do that, when things were so calm just a couple hundred yards down the trail, in the woods. He didn't move or open his eyes, and I continued on in silence...headphones blaring Pantera. Hitting the West Bond Spur, it wasn't a question of whether or not I would take it. Sure it's an offshoot of the loop, but I wasn't about to just blast past, and I had extra time. West Bond was a cool little bump, and the clear night and moon hanging in the sky made it an awesome spot to chill and eat.
Up and over Mt. Guyot, the wind was unreal...to the point that it was a little nerve wracking. I had to hold my hat on, and my feet mid-step were being blown, causing me to trip over myself. I looked in the sky and reminded myself that there were no clouds, hence no storms. Just wind. At night sometimes, things that don't bother you during the day can get into your head!
Hitting the Twinway, on the trail towards South Twin, I started feeling froggy, and broke into a run. That section of trail isn't super technical and kind of rolls, so I just flowed until the top of South Twin. On the way down, I hit my first tough spot mentally. As soon as I went below the trees, I sat on a rock and ate the hell out of some cashews and raisinets- just shoveling it in, downed my Gatorade, and continued on. The moon was turning reddish.
The next stop was Garfield Ridge water source. I debated going up to the site and checking out my former place of living, but decided that at 1:30 in the morning, I wouldn't really see anything, and I would just be that creepy guy wandering around in the middle of the night amongst the tenters. I settled on just hanging out at the source, eating and downing my Red Bull, because I was feeling tired.
The trail between Garfield and Lafayette is my favorite. There are runnable sections, and technical sections that are just fun. I was kind of grooving on a high, so I ran a lot of it. The problem with highs is that they end.
At 3am, on the side of Lafayette, I was a mess. The wind was crazy, and my energy level was below zero. I know from other sleep deprivation pursuits that this time of night/morning is my bad time. In every multi-day event I do, the shit really hits the fan for me from 3:30am until the sun comes up. The sky was already getting lighter to the east, so I pressed on, knowing the sun would bring me back to life.
I sat in the lee of the wind behind a rock on Lincoln, eating and watching the sun rise over the mountains to the east.
For the first time in almost 2 hours, I started feeling good again, and began the descent to the lower mountains of Little Haystack, Liberty, and Flume. Passing by Little Haystack's "stealth" campsite, I smelled weed. Who the hell was smoking pot at this hour? I looked at my watch, and it was 4:25. These older hippy dudes really stuck to their 4:20. Waking up at this time to smoke is true commitment.
I ran/hiked everything I could all the way to Liberty, because since I had seen the sun rise, I was really ready to just get out of the woods and eat some real food....but ran into a really nice couple on that mountain, and chatted with them for a good 30 minutes. One of the things I love about hiking is meeting some really great people on the trail.
I departed from Liberty and blasted on up to Flume in about 20 minutes. The sun was really up now, and Lincoln and Lafayette were looking awesome. Now was my favorite part: the Osseo Trail. For the most part, this is a non-technical trail and not too steep at any point. It is perfect to stretch the legs and actually run all the way down to civilization. The sun was getting hot.
4.1 miles of running later, I hit the railroad bed, and it would be just 1.4 miles until I was back at the car. I opted to walk out, because I wanted a nice relaxing end to this thing.
Bleary eyed and well-worked, I sat in the car about 12 hours after I had started and decided that a McDonald's breakfast would be the perfect way to cap the morning. All I wanted was calories....disgusting, greasy, salty calories. The drive home was brutal. I wanted to keep nodding off, but stuck it out. Once home, the shower was bliss, and the sleep was deep.
A fantastic end to one day, and an awesome start to another: the Midnight Pemi.
krp
